Table of Contents

Personal Details
My reasons for choosing this person
Churchill’s childhood
Churchill’s education
Starting the career
As a Liberal
Returning to the Conservatives
After the war
After the retirement
Churchill’s death
My opinion about the hero
Bibliography
Attachment I – “We shall fight on the beaches”

Personal Details

Name: Winston Churchill

Place of Birth: Blenheim Palace, England

Date of Birth: 30.11.1874

Date of Death: 24.1.1965

Family: Married + 4

My Reason for Choosing This Person

I chose Winston Churchill because I think that he was one of the leaders that led to the victory of the allies in the Second World War. I also know that he had many famous speeches like "We shall fight on the beaches"

Churchill’s Childhood

Winston Spencer Leonard Churchill was born on 30.11.18 in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England. Winston was the eldest son of Lord Randolph Churchill, The son of the 7th Duke of Malborourgh.
His mother was an American girl who was famous for her beauty.
Winston feared and awed his father. Winston’s father was a leader in the Conservative Party, and his mother had many duties. His both parents didn’t pay much attention to him.

Churchill’s Education

In 1988, when Winston was 12 years old, he entered the Harrow school, a prominent English secondary school. He joined the school with the lower grades in the lower class and stayed in this position.
Winston never got to the upper school, because he was too self-willed and refused to study the classics.
In 1893, when Churchill was 18, he entered the Royal Military Collage at Sandhurst. He failed the entrance exam twice before succeeding to get to the collage, but soon he became the leader of the class in two most important subjects: Tactics and Fortifications. When he graduated in 1894 he was 8th in the class of 150 students.

Starting the Career

In 1895, after he graduated from the Royal Military Collage at Sandhurst, Churchill was appointed to be a second lieutenant in the 4th Hussars, a proud cavalry regiment.
In 1896, Churchill’s regiment went to Bangalore in the southern India.
Then he started to read many books, and he was also interested in the work of historians. From this point he started to write books like The River War (1899) and Savrola (1900).
In 1897 Churchill took a year break from the army and returned in 1898. Then he took part in a great cavalry charge of the British army in the battle of Omdurman.
In 1899 Churchill resigned from the army and ran to the parliament as a conservative from Oldham and lost his first election.
In October 1899 Churchill was hired by newspaper in London as a reporter to report about the Boers war in South Africa, a war between the Dutch settlers and the British.
After being there for a month Churchill were captured, acting as soldier more than as reporter.
When the Boars transported him to the prisoner camp in Pretoria, he made a dramatic escape and traveled via the Portuguese East Africa back to the fighting front at Natal.
His escape made him very famous all over the world.
Churchill returned to Oldham in 1900, received a hero’s welcome and in 1901 he managed to become a member for the parliament as a Conservative for Oldham.
Soon, Churchill began to criticize the Conservative policies and in 1904 he broke away from the Conservative Party.

As a Liberal

After he broke away from the Conservative Party Churchill joined the Liberal party, and in his next elections he ran for the parliament as a Liberal and won the Elections of 1906. Then Churchill became undersecretary of states for the colonies for the Liberal party. In this year he also published a biography of his father Lord Randolph Churchill and made peace with the Boers.
In 1908 Churchill met Clementine Hozier who was the daughter of a retired army officer. Churchill and Clementine married at 12.9.1908.
Unlike his parents, Churchill became a devoted father to his 4 children: Diana (1909 - 1963), Randolph (1911 - 1968), Sarah (1914 - 1982), and Mary (1922 – till now).
Churchill had one other daughter, Marigold, who died as a baby.
Churchill also appointed to the president of the board of trade (1908) and home secretary (1910). In 1911, the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith appointed Churchill to the first lord of admiralty.
Before the World War I, as the first lord of admiralty, Churchill predicted the war with Germany and reorganized and modernized his fleet. When World War I began, the British fleet was ready.
In 1915, Churchill ordered to attack the Gallipoly peninsula.
The attack was a big failure of the allies and the total casualties in the battles there were more than 500,000. After the allies’ evacuation from Gallipoly Churchill had to resign from the admiralty, but kept his seat in the parliament. In November 1915 Churchill rejoined the British army in France.
World War I ended in 1918 and in 1921 Churchill became Colonial secretary.

Return to the Conservatives

In 1924 Churchill rejoined the Conservative Party and returned to the Parliament.
In 1929 the Conservatives lost the elections and Churchill left his office.
He did not hold a cabinet position until 1939.
On 1.9.1939 the Germans attacked Poland and after 2 days, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany and Churchill returned to the admiralty.
Churchill warned about a war before, but Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain didn’t listen.
In May 1940, after the Germans conquered Norway and Denmark, Churchill became Prime Minister.
Churchill made one of his most famous speeches: “I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, sweat and tears”.
Belgium surrendered to Germany on May 28, and on June 22 France surrendered too, leaving Britain alone in the war.
In a speech to the House of Commons, a the day after the fall of France, Churchill declared: "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, 'This was their finest hour'"
Early in the war, Churchill established close relations with President Roosevelt of the United States, who began to send arms to Britain.
In 1941, when the Germans started their invasion to the USSR, Churchill offered Stalin a war alliance and helped them in the war. At the end of this year the United States entered to the war and the allies gained an advantage of greater resources.
On May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered.

After the War

In July, Churchill met with Truman and Stalin to discuss the administration of Germany.
Also this month, elections were held in Britain and the Conservative lost.
Many blamed the Conservative Party for bad preparations for the war.
When the Conservatives returned to power in 1951, Churchill was again Prime Minister, as well as Minister of Defense.
Churchill concentrated on foreign affairs and he worked very hard to encourage the British – American unity.
Churchill continued to write and in 1953 he published The Second World War.
In 1953 he also received Nobel Prize in literature.
On 5 April 1955, at age of 80 Churchill resigned as Prime Minister, but continued to sit in Commons until July 1964.

After The Retirement

Churchill’s later years were relatively tranquil. In 1958 his work showed in the royal academy’s galleries.
In 1963 he became honorary citizen of United States by a special act of the American congress.

Churchill’s Death

Churchill suffered a stroke on January 15, 1965 and died nine days later, at the age of 90.
He buried at St. Martin Churchyard in Oxfordshire, England, near his birthplace, Blenheim Palace.
When he died he was acclaimed as a citizen of the world, and on January 30, he was given a funeral of a hero.

My Opinion about W. Churchill

I think that Winston Churchill was a very brave man.
From the escape from the Boers to the brave standing at the World War II, Churchill showed bravery and stubbornness.
He was also a brilliant war leader, when he succeeded to unite the British people during World War II.
It’s very sad that no one listened to him when he warned before that war.
I also liked his speeches: “Their finest hour” (After the fall of France)“We shall fight on the beaches” (After the British evacuation from Dunkirk, when the Germans started to take over Europe).

What I dislike at him is his acts in the attack on Galipolly peninsula.
500,000 men killed there for nothing. Everything the allies did there was wrong. He should have ordered them to retreat sooner, or alternatively making better organization in order to win the battles.

Bibliography

Yavne Youth Encyclopedia, vol. 12, Pages 275-276, Yavne Publications Inc, 1993

http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,115149+1+108565,00.html

http://www.empirenet.com/~jahvah/leader.html

http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_churchill.html

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html

http://www.winstonchurchill.org

Attachment I

Quote from: “We shall Fight on the Beaches”

On 26 May 1940 “Operation Dynamo” begun – Evacuating the British troops from Dunkirk, Belgium.
This was after Germany conquered Belgium, and the British wanted to evacuate their army from there.
They hoped to evacuate 45,000 men, but with air supremacy and bravery, they evacuated 338,000 troops, including 26,000 French.
On 4 June 1940 Churchill made a speech in the House of Commons about what happened in Dunkirk and what the British going to do for the rest of the war.
This speech is very long, and I quoted the last and famous paragraph.
In the previous paragraph Churchill spoke about what happened in Dunkirk and the losses of the sides in the war.

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.